November 2001 NEWS Volume 10, No. 10 A Publication of The American Physical Society http://www.aps.org/apsnews

APS Members Elect Helen Quinn Newly as Society’s Next Vice President Elected Members of the APS have cho- of Bell Labs/Lucent Technologies its choices are then voted on by APS Officials sen Helen Quinn of the Stanford becomes president. Quinn will as- the APS membership. Elected as Linear Accelerator Center to be the sume the APS presidency in 2004, new general councillors were Society’s next vice president. Quinn following Brinkman and Sarachik, Frances Houle of IBM’s Almaden is the fourth woman to be elected who will be president in 2003. Research Center and Gerald VICE PRESIDENT to the presidential line in the In other election results, Susan Mahan of the University of Tennes- Helen Quinn Society’s 102-year history, follow- Seestrom of Los Alamos National see. T. Maurice Rice of the Swiss ing C.S. Wu of Columbia University Laboratory will become chair-elect Federal Institute of Technology was in 1975, Mildred Dresselhaus of of the APS Nominating Committee, elected to the new position of in- MIT in 1984, and current APS Vice which will be chaired by Susan Cop- ternational councillor. President Myriam Sarachik (City persmith (University of Chicago) in “I appreciate and accept the College of New York), who will as- 2002. The Nominating Committee trust my colleagues have placed in sume the role of president-elect selects the slate of candidates in me,” Quinn said of her election. “I next year when William Brinkman the annual general elections, and look forward to the challenge of helping provide good leadership to CHAIR-ELECT OF THE INTERNATIONAL the APS over the next four years.” NOMINATING COMMITTEE COUNCILLOR A native of Melbourne, Australia, Susan Seestrom T. Maurice Rice APS Teacher Prep Program Quinn completed her PhD in phys- ics in 1967 at Stanford and has Gets Full Funding From NSF been a permanent staff member of The National Science Foundation has the Stanford Linear Accelerator awarded a five-year, $5.76 million grant to the Center since 1979. She has made APS, in partnership with the American Associa- significant contributions to particle tion of Physics Teachers (AAPT) and the American physics theory, for which she has Institute of Physics (AIP), to create a nationwide received numerous honors. initiative known as the Physics Teacher Education Quinn devotes significant pro- GENERAL COUNCILLOR GENERAL COUNCILLOR Coalition (PhysTEC). In addition, the Fund for fessional time to education work. She was the founding President of Frances Houle Gerald Mahan

the Improvement of Postsecondary Education Alicia Chang/APS (FIPSE) in the US Department of Education APS Education Director See ELECTION on page 5 awarded a three-year, $498,456, grant to en- Fred Stein hance the evaluation, induction, and dissemination components of the PhysTEC program. The fledgling program is aimed at improving the APS News Survey Tracks Chinese science preparation and teaching skills of future secondary and elemen- tary teachers and establishing a mentor program for new teachers. Over the last 20 years, national reports on the state of education in the US Student Visa Problems have decried the inadequate preparation and lack of competency of new By Richard M. Todaro science teachers at all levels K-12, according to Fredrick Stein, Director of Education at APS and PhysTEC’s principal investigator. The reports cited Has the US State Department the refusal rate for Chinese student perienced difficulties at a rate al- inadequate understanding of science content, and the lack of student-cen- been giving Chinese citizens an es- visa applicants was markedly lower most four times that of other tered, inquiry-based approaches in science classrooms. While there has been pecially difficult time obtaining in fiscal 2000 than in the prior two foreign nationals, this rate was the some improvement over the last decade, “many of our high school physics student and exchange visitor visas fiscal years. (Refusal rates for fiscal same as the State Department’s stu- courses are still modeled after college courses that are not inquiry-based and to come to the United States in the 2001 were not provided.) dent visa applicant refusal rate for do not develop good conceptual understanding,” says Stein. “And as indi- past year or two? Helping to set the dimensions of all Chinese citizens in both fiscal cated by low enrollment figures, [such courses] do not interest many of our This question has elicited strong the problem are the results of a sur- 1998 and 1999. This indicate little students. The overwhelming need for inservice teacher enhancement debate, with some members of the vey, conducted this September by had changed in the past three years See PHYSTEC on page 3 academic and research community, the APS, of the heads of the 254 except the perception of a prob- especially in physics, feeling under PhD- and Masters-granting phys- lem. siege at what they perceive to be ics graduate programs in the United Clouding the picture are the Apker Finalists Meet in Washington an unfair and arbitrary crackdown States. Among the respondents, 54 horrific events of September 11, on students and scientists from percent said they have encountered 2001, which have abruptly and China, and in some instances, from sudden and unusual problems get- dramatically changed the political other countries. They say this ting visas for Chinese citizens or agenda and put any proposed crackdown has harmed scientific other foreign nationals entering changes in student visa categories inquiry and damaged graduate pro- their programs, while 46 percent on ice for some time to come. grams, particularly those in physics, said they did not. The issue has generated in- around the country. While the survey found that creasing controversy and But the State Department un- Chinese students seeking visas for confusion in the past year. News equivocally denies charges of any the 2001-2002 academic year ex- See SURVEY on page 6 crackdown or change in policy as “simply not true,” citing figures that show steady increases over the past Laleña Lancaster/APS The seven finalists in the competition for the 2002 Apker Award for under- several years in the number of HHighlights graduate research met in Washington on September 10 for interviews with the people from China coming to the selection committee. The finalists are divided into two groups, those from PhD- US under student and exchange granting institutions, and those from institutions that do not grant PhD’s in physics. visitor visa categories. These figures 2 The committee will recommend two recipients for approval by the APS Executive show steady increases in the num- This Month Board, and the results will be announced in next month’s APS News. ber of “F1” student visas issued to in Physics All the finalists received plaques recognizing their achievement and checks for people from China each year since History $2,000. They are, left to right, Till Rosenband (MIT), Laurie Sibbach (Moravian Roentgen’s ©2001 Paul Dlugokencky (aDailyCartoon.com) for APS News fiscal 1998, including a nearly 10 College), Michael Seifert (Swarthmore College), Charis Quay Huei Li (Mount Discovery of The Back Page Holyoke College), Kathryn Todd (Caltech), Albert Torr-Jong Wang (University of percent jump from fiscal 2000 to X-Rays Unity of Physics in Action:

Rochester), and Robert E. Wagner (Illinois State University). fiscal 2001 (ending September 30). Photo from http://www.softcode.com/X_ray.html 8 Voices from Around the World The State Department also says that 2 November 2001 NEWS

‘’This primitive organism forms a off-brand that was 25 cents a box. material with unique optical proper- But that was in graduate school. I ties. Here, nature teaches us a lesson haven’t done it since.” Few scientific breakthroughs cathode rays (later recognized as in how to solve a very complex tech- —Brian Moeckly, San Francisco, on have had as immediate an impact electrons), which penetrated the nological problem.’’ the diet of single people, Detroit Free as Wilhelm Conrad Roentgen’s dis- opaque black paper wrapped —Joanna Aizenberg, Bell Laborato- Press, 9/18/01 ✶✶✶ covery of X-rays, a momentous around the tube. Further experi- ries, on a strange starfish with a many-lensed event that instantly revolutionized ments revealed that this new type of eye, Boston Globe, 8/23/01 “You can’t think of security as just ✶✶✶ a screening device. It’s a system—in the fields of physics and medicine. ray was capable of passing through “It’s achieved an intellectual criti- fact, a system of systems. You have The X-ray emerged from the labo- most substances, including the soft tis- cal mass and it’s in a drop-dead to optimize the way the whole thing ratory and into widespread use sues of the body, but left bones and gorgeous place. The smartest people works.” in a startlingly brief leap: within a metals visible. One of his earliest pho- vessels, with mixed results. The first in the world come here.” —Thomas Hartwick, Snohomish, year of Roentgen’s announcement tographic plates from his experiments angiography, moving-picture —David Bishop, Bell Laboratories, Washington, on airport screening pro- of his discovery, the application was a film of his wife Bertha’s hand, X-rays, and military radiology, were on the advantages of the Aspen Center cedures, LA Times, 9/23/01 of X-rays to diagnosis and therapy with her wedding ring clearly visible. performed in early 1896. for Physics, NY Times, 8/28/01 ✶✶✶ was an established part of the medi- To test his observations and en- In addition to the diagnostic ✶✶✶ “If you have all the bad students cal profession. hance his scientific data, Roentgen powers of X-rays, some experimen- “We’re doing this wrong.” in one group they don’t learn.” Roentgen’s scientific career was plunged into seven weeks of meticu- talists began applying the rays to —Paul Ginsparg, Cornell Univer- —Ezequiel Albano, Institute of Ap- one beset with difficulties. As a stu- lous planned and executed treating disease. Since the early 19th sity, on what inspired him to invent the plied and Theoretical Physical dent in Holland, he was expelled experiments. On December 28, he sub- century, electrotherapy had proved e-print archive, NY Times, 8/28/01 Chemistry, La Plata, Argentina, on the from the Utrecht Technical School mitted his first “provisional” popular for the temporary relief of ✶✶✶ predictions of a model of atoms used to for a prank committed by another communication, “On a New Kind of real and imagined pains. The same “It has lived up to all our hopes, describe classroom behavior, New Sci- student. His lack of a diploma ini- Rays,” in the Proceedings of the apparatus could generate X-rays. giving us front-row seats to phenom- entist, 9/22/01 tially prevented him from obtaining Würzburg Physico-Medical Society. In In January 1896, only a few days ena light years away—exotic ✶✶✶ a position at the University of January 1896 he made his first public after the announcement of celestial objects, matter falling into “It’s always possible that these Würzburg even after he received presentation before the same society, Roentgen’s work, a Chicago black holes, and stellar explosions.” new structures will improve our un- his doctorate, although he eventu- following his lecture with a demon- electrotherapist named Emil —Martin Weisskopf, NASA, Hunts- derstanding and lead to other ally was accepted. His experiments stration: he made a plate of the hand Grubbe irradiated a woman with a ville, Alabama, on the Chandra X-ray advances.” at Würzburg focused on light phe- of an attending anatomist, who pro- recurrent cancer of the breast, and Observatory, ABC News.com., 9/6/01 —Ken Kihlstrom, Westmont College, nomena and other emissions posed the new discovery be named by the end of the year, several re- ✶✶✶ on a proposed new type of high tem- generated by discharging electrical “Roentgen’s Rays.” searchers had noted the palliative “There’s always been that nagging perature superconductor, Information current in so-called “Crookes The news spread rapidly through- effects of the rays on cancers. Oth- doubt.” Week, 9/24/01 tubes,” glass bulbs with positive and out the world. Thomas Edison was ers found remarkable results in the —Fulvio Melia, University of Ari- ✶✶✶ negative electrodes, evacuated of among those eager to perfect treatment of surface lesions and zona, about whether there is a black hole “We’re trying to run the most air, which display a fluorescent glow Roentgen’s discovery, developing a skin problems while others investi- at the center of our galaxy, New complex problems in the world.” when a high voltage current is handheld fluoroscope, although he gated the possible bacterial action Scientist.com, 9/6/01 —David Nowak, Livermore Na- passed through it. He was particu- failed to make a commercial “X-ray of the rays. X-rays even found cos- ✶✶✶ tional Laboratory, on his lab’s larly interested in cathode rays and lamp” for domestic use. The appa- metic uses in depilatory clinics set “About 60 percent of these de- Accelerated Strategic Computing Initia- in assessing their range outside of ratus for producing X-rays was soon up in the US and France. vices are used for brain research. tive, Cox News Service, 9/24/01 charged tubes. widely available, and studios opened Roentgen was awarded the first ✶✶✶ Physicians inject glucose labeled with On November 8, 1895, Roent- to take “bone portraits,” further fu- Nobel Prize in physics in 1901 for a radioactive chemical in the patient’s “There was some serendipity in gen noticed that when he shielded eling public interest and imagination. his discovery. When asked what his body. The brain burns glucose, so making this discovery, [because] we the tube with heavy black card- Poems about X-rays appeared in thoughts were at the moment of the glucose goes to where the brain were actually trying to understand board, the green fluorescent light popular journals, and the metaphori- discovery, he replied, true to form, is working, and since the glucose the wetting and spreading proper- caused a platinobarium screen nine cal use of the rays popped up in political “I didn’t think, I investigated.” To- produces radiation, the PET scan ties of lead on copper for soldering feet at away to glow — too far away cartoons, short stories, and advertis- day, Roentgen is widely recognized can image it. So it is a powerful way and brazing applications. Our origi- to be reacting to the cathode rays ing. Detectives touted the use of as a brilliant experimentalist who to look inside the brain.” nal goal was to get a more as he understood them. He deter- Roentgen devices in following unfaith- never sought honors or financial —John A. McIntyre, Texas A&M, microscopic view of what is going mined the fluorescence was caused ful spouses, and lead underwear was profits for his research. He rejected on the PET scan, UPI, 9/25/01 on during wetting and spreading of by invisible rays originating from the manufactured to foil attempts at peek- a title that would have given him ✶✶✶ solder, but this just jumped out at “Some of the dust raised by the Crookes tube he was using to study ing with “X-ray glasses.” entry into the German nobility, and us.” As frivolous as such reactions may donated his Nobel Prize money to ‘reading wars’ has been settled. But —Norm Bartelt, Sandia National the real solution lies in winning the seem, the medical community quickly his university. While he accepted the Laboratory, on how metal films make recognized the importance of honorary degree of doctor of medi- hearts and minds of teachers.” the transition from droplets to organized —Donald N. Langenberg , Univer- Roentgen’s discovery. By February cine offered to him by his own structures, Electronic Engineering Times, 1896, X-rays were finding their first clini- university, he never took out any sity of Maryland, on the controversy over 9/24/01 how to teach students to read, LA Times, ✶✶✶ cal use in the US in Dartmouth, MA, patents on X-rays, to ensure that 9/17/01 “This is one of the many nonlin- when Edwin Brant Frost produced a the world could freely benefit from ✶✶✶ ear methods known to produce plate of a patient’s Colles fracture for his work. His altruism came at con- “I eat oatmeal at least twice a quantum states of light. You take one his brother, a local doctor. Soon at- siderable personal cost: at the time week, not always for breakfast, you blue photon, annihilate it in the crys- tempts were made to insert metal rods of his death in 1923, Roentgen was know what I mean? I did go through tal, and it generates two near-infrared or inject radio-opaque substances to nearly bankrupt from the inflation my neon-orange macaroni and photons.” give clear pictures of organs and following World War I. cheese phase. Put cheese in quotes —Daniel Gauthier, Duke Univer- because I don’t know what the hell it sity, on how to use quantum One of the earliest photographic plates from Roentgen’s experiments was. No one should eat lab chemi- entanglement to focus light more nar- was a film of his wife, Bertha's hand with a ring, produced on Friday,

Photos from http://www.softcode.com/X_ray.html Photos from November 8, 1895. cals for a year. I even went for the rowly, NY Times, 9/20/01

Series II, Vol. 10, No. 10 Physical Society, One Physics Ellipse, College Park, Treasurer Lubkin* (Forum on History of Physics), Stuart Wolf November 2001 MD 20740-3844, [email protected]. Thomas McIlrath*, University of Maryland (emeritus) (Forum on Industrial and Applied Physics), Ed Gerjuoy NEWS ©2001 The American Physical Society Editor-in-Chief (Forum on Physics and Society), Carl Lineberger (Laser For Nonmembers—Circulation and Fulfillment Martin Blume*, Brookhaven National Laboratory Science), G. Slade Cargill, III (Materials), John D. Coden: ANWSEN ISSN: 1058-8132 Division, American Institute of Physics, Suite 1NO1, (emeritus) Walecka (Nuclear), Sally Dawson, Peter Meyers 2 Huntington Quadrangle, Melville, NY 11747- Past-President (Particles & Fields), Alexander Chao (Physics of Editor ...... Alan Chodos 4502. Allow at least 6 weeks advance notice. For James Langer*, University of California, Santa Barbara Beams), Richard Hazeltine (Plasma), Timothy P. Associate Editor ...... Jennifer Ouellette address changes, please send both the old and new Lodge (Polymer), Kannan Jagannathan, (New addresses, and, if possible, include a mailing label General Councillors England), Joe Hamilton (Southeastern) Special Publications Manager ...... Elizabeth Buchan-Higgins from a recent issue. Requests from subscribers for Jonathan A. Bagger, Beverly Berger, Philip Bucksbaum*, * Members of the APS Executive Board Design and Production ...... Alicia Chang missing issues will be honored without charge only L. Craig Davis, Stuart Freedman, Leon Lederman*, Proofreaders ...... Ken Cole, Edward Lee and Sue Otwell if received within 6 months of the issue’s actual date Cynthia McIntyre, Margaret Murnane, Cherry Ann ADVISORS APS News (ISSN: 1058-8132) is published 11X News should be directed to: Editor, APS News, One of publication. Periodical Postage Paid at College Murray, Roberto Peccei, Philip Phillips, Helen Quinn*, Representatives from Other Societies yearly, monthly, except the August/September Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20749-3844, E-mail: Park, MD and at additional mailing offices. Jin-Joo Song, James Trefil John Hubisz, AAPT; Marc Brodsky, AIP issue, by the American Physical Society, One [email protected]. Postmaster: Send address changes to APS News, International Advisors Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740-3844, Membership Department, American Physical Society, Chair, Nominating Committee Gordon Drake, Canadian Association of Physicists, (301) 209-3200. It contains news of the Society Subscriptions: APS News is an on-membership One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740-3844. Curtis G. Callan, Jr. Dr. Gerardo C. Puente, Mexican Physical Society and of its Divisions, Topical Groups, Sections publication delivered by Periodical Mail. Members Chair, Panel on Public Affairs and Forums; advance information on meetings residing abroad may receive airfreight delivery for a APS COUNCIL 2001 William R. Frazer Staff Representatives of the Society; and reports to the Society by its fee of $15. Nonmembers: Subscription rates are: President Alan Chodos, Associate Executive Officer; Irving Lerch, committees and task forces, as well as opinions. domestic $105; Canada, Mexico, Central and South George H. Trilling*, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory Division, Forum and Section Councillors Director of International Affairs; Fredrick Stein, Director America, and Caribbean $105; Air Freight Europe, President-Elect Steven Holt* (Astrophysics), Harold Metcalf (Atomic, of Education and Outreach; Robert L. Park, Director, Letters to the editor are welcomed from the Asia, Africa and Oceania $120. William F. Brinkman*, Bell Labs-Lucent Technologies Molecular & Optical), Robert Eisenberg (Biological Physics), Public Information; Michael Lubell, Director, Public membership. Letters must be signed and should Vice-President Sylvia Ceyer (Chemical), E. Dan Dahlberg* Arthur Affairs; Stanley Brown, Editorial Director; Charles include an address and daytime telephone number. Subscription orders, renewals and address Myriam P. Sarachik*, City College of New York - CUNY Hebard*, Allen Goldman (Condensed Matter Physics), Muller, Director, Journal Operations; Robert Kelly, The APS reserves the right to select and to edit for changes should be addressed as follows: For APS Executive Officer Steve White (Computational), Jerry Gollub* (Fluid Director of Journal Information Systems; Michael length or clarity. All correspondence regarding APS Members—Membership Department, American Judy R. Franz*, University of Alabama, Huntsville (on leave) Dynamics), Peter Zimmerman (Forum on Education), Gloria Stephens, Controller and Assistant Treasurer NEWS November 2001 3

Physicists in the “Engines of Tomorrow” Craig Davis Jim Tsang By Craig Davis and Jim Tsang Editor’s Note: This is the second in a find themselves on a long journey that Some say the 21st century will be- include engineers designing, manufac- future collaborations and for placing new series exploring the health of the phys- takes one of their scientific papers into long to the biologists. Thus, the turing and testing products, and sales students and graduates. Obviously, in- ics profession. The first article appeared as a commercial product, which can be physics profession potentially faces people who see how existing products dustry benefits considerably from The Back Page in last month’s issue. Other simultaneously educational, amusing, a new crisis: no longer being the pre- are being used in the field and the prob- having students and faculty as visitors articles, by other authors, will appear in appalling, tedious, and exciting. The miere science and the attendant lems that customers are looking for in research labs, R&D activities, and coming months. special qualities of physicists that allow reduction of its slice of the research solutions to. Often they find pressing business groups. Industrial speaker When one of the authors was look- them to get to the bottom of a problem funding pie. Although it is foolish to needs for what they know or can learn. programs (AIP, FIAP) provide physicists ing for a permanent job at the end of or to understand technology broadly assume that physics will lose its lus- Should physics education and who can speak to students, as well as his post-doctoral appointment, he often mean that they lead teams or ter indefinitely, it is equally risky to training be changed to reflect the faculty, about life in industry. Our ex- mainly interviewed industries. A promi- manage R&D departments. think that the profession will remain needs of industry? Perhaps. There periences suggest that students greatly nent professor observed, “You’re good In his provocative essay “Find the healthy without change. There is an are a number of innovative pro- appreciate the information and insight. enough to get an academic job,” im- Hidden Physicist” (September, 1997 opportunity for the APS and the grams, such as the entrepreneurial The most important point, however, is plying that somehow he would be issue of The Industrial Physicist), John physics community to embrace fully physics program at Case Western simply to keep an open mind about settling for less. No doubt this view is Rigden noted that 1/3 of physics PhDs the value of industrial and applied Reserve University. Our guess is that the many alternatives a physics gradu- still held by some people today: the ul- eventually go into industry, and that an physics, not only for the health of many of these programs will flour- ate can pursue. timate career for physics PhDs worth astounding 63% of baccalaureates en- the profession, but also for the ben- ish and contribute valuable technical One can debate whether physics their salt is at a university, or perhaps a tering the job market take industrial efit of society. talent for industry. However, even is a field of scholarship or a profes- national lab. jobs. Their employers call many of these What should the academic world with no changes in the traditional sion. For us, it is both. We believe In the past a position in an indus- people engineers, rather than physi- know about industrial physicists? Many education of physicists, without al- the latter aspect is essential for the trial research laboratory frequently did cists. They are “hidden” behind a physicists in industry have jobs with tering the curriculum, there are some continued health of the physics not differ that much from one in aca- misnomer, which diminishes the rec- titles that fail to mention physics. How simple actions that university depart- community. Public support for phys- demic environment. Today, however, ognition of the physics contributions. do they obtain such jobs? Many are ments can take. Summer internships ics research is usually based on the even the most prestigious industrial He called upon industry to identify hired directly into such positions, es- for students are extremely valuable. promise of future applications and laboratories have changed. While physicists properly and for the aca- pecially at the bachelors level. Others, Internships give students a chance contributions to economic growth physicists may still perform research demic community to think of industrial especially PhDs, begin in research, of- to see what industry is like, provide or on an appeal to national pride, fundamental to technology, increas- physicists as their colleagues. Much to ten doing work related to their thesis contacts and opportunities to net- not necessarily on scholarship. The ingly industry expects them to be its credit, the APS recognized the sig- or post-doc. The activities of these work, and give students the great successes of biology in gaining engaged in the business. Physicists are nificance of this major portion of its rather fundamental researchers evolve opportunity to prove themselves to federal support derive directly from called upon to be involved in customer membership as the job market weak- over time into applied work, develop- potential employers. MIT, for ex- the benefits to human health and the satisfaction, finance, and marketing. ened in the 1990s. The creation of the ment, and even into business-oriented ample, is making internships in eradication of disease. Regarding They work in teams comprised of sci- APS Forum on Industrial and Applied projects. In today’s world, few will re- industry or national laboratories part physics as a profession in addition entists from other disciplines, engineers, Physics and its subsequent growth is a main in fundamental research of their graduate program. to a scholarly pursuit recognizes the and non-technical people. They may sign of this change. throughout their careers. At the very Likewise, professors should con- usefulness of physicists and the im- minimum, they must understand the sider spending part of their pact of the science on society. impact of their work on their compa- sabbatical leaves in industry. There Craig Davis is Manager of the Phys- nies and appreciate the problems their is a new APS Industrial Faculty Fel- ics Department, Ford Research employers face. Besides talking to their lowship Program, which promises to Laboratory. former classmates, professors, and be useful as well. Such experiences James C. Tsang is a member of the other colleagues at APS meetings, they provide interesting new research research staff at the IBM T. J. Watson learn to talk to new communities. These projects and open up possibilities for Research Center.

Committee on Committees Finds PhysTEC, from page 1 the Talent That Keeps APS Running programs in physics at the most basic level points to the failure of programs Editor’s Note: With this article, APS Zachary Fisk in our colleges and universities to pre- News begins an occasional series on the of Florida State, pare students adequately for teaching.” various standing committees of the the current COC Based on the concept that teachers American Physical Society. chair, echoed “teach as they were taught,” PhysTEC Of the 17 standing committees – those sentiments. was proposed in 1999 as an effective including nine operating committees “In some sense, mechanism to greatly increase the role and eight public affairs and outreach it sounds crazy to of physics departments, in collabora- Alicia Chang/APS committees – that exist through the have a Committee Zachary Fisk tion with education departments bylaws of the American Physical So- on Committees, nationwide, to radically improve the

ciety, one in particular stands out for but when you look at it, the job is science preparation of teachers (see Alicia Chang/APS its unusual name: the Committee on rather important,” said Fisk. “The APS News, October 2000). “PhysTEC Participating PhysTEC Institutions members (from l to r): Al Rosenthal, Western Michigan Committees, also known by its ab- committees of the APS serve a very inverts the strategy of university-based University; Elia Eschenazi & Stephen Rodrigue, Xavier; David Grosnick, Ball State; James Lilly, breviation, the COC. important function (and) the Com- projects involving all science depart- Xavier; Ruth Howes, Ball State; Henri Jansen, Oregon State; Marcia Fetters, Western Michigan University; Gay Stewart & Caroline Beller, U of Arkansas; Ken Krane, Oregon State. Not The unusual name of this 10-per- mittee on Committees is where the ments, to that of a nationally recognized shown: Charles Payne, Ball State; Ingrid Novodvorsky & James McCullen, U of Arizona. son committee reflects the unique selections are made… who gets coalition within a single discipline, role it has, which is to find and rec- chosen is very important. It makes aimed at a large number of colleges ary science courses with an emphasis Stein. “Now we hope to translate that ommend qualified people to serve a lot of difference.” and universities that are linked through on inquiry-based, hands-on ap- into better-prepared science teachers on many of the other 16 committees Fisk said the COC consists of the professional societies,” says Stein. proaches to teaching and learning. who are committed to student-cen- of the Society. elected members of Council who “This project also builds upon the many PhysTEC’s efforts will kick off im- tered, inquiry-based, hands-on The COC is not to be confused with represent the diversity of fields years of research and work within the mediately with an initial set of six approaches to teaching from the mo- the Nominating Committee, whose re- within the Society and who “have physics community involving teacher primary institutions that share a strong ment they hit the classroom.” sponsibility is to prepare a slate of some basis for trying to make ap- preparation.” commitment to revising their teacher Stein admits that several obstacles candidates for senior leadership posi- propriate suggestions” for suitable The program incorporates exem- preparation program, including that of still exist to the success of PhysTEC, tions, including some member-elected candidates to occupy the slots of plary components of past elementary and secondary science most notably enticing faculty members ones. the other standing committees. NSF-supported projects that have teachers, according to Stein. The six at research universities to turn their “While the duties of the COC over- Judy Franz, the Executive Of- proven successful in making long-term initial institutions, selected after a se- creativity toward improving teaching, lap somewhat with the Nominating ficer of the APS and a senior changes in teacher preparation. These ries of nationwide site visits by Stein as well as persuading physics depart- Committee, it basically provides the advisor to the COC, said the entire include a teacher-in-residence pro- and his collaborators at AAPT and AIP, ments and schools of education to APS President with names of people to organization benefits from the role gram, providing for local K-12 science are Ball State University, Oregon State communicate and work together. Yet serve on various committees of the it plays. teachers to assist faculty with both University, University of Arizona, Uni- in both cases, says Stein, “The direct society,” Ken Cole, the administrator “When COC selects new com- team-teaching and course revisions, as versity of Arkansas, Western Michigan involvement of the key physics profes- of governing committees, says. “Be- mittee members with expertise, well as a long-term, active collabora- University, and Xavier University of sional societies can play a major role in cause of its nominating-like function, drive, and commitment, all other tion among the physics and education Louisiana. “The NSF grant allows us to producing positive, lasting changes in it is a very important committee, as APS committees profit as does the departments and the local school com- provide these institutions with the sup- the way universities interact with un- it determines the make-up of the im- APS as a whole,” Franz said. munity. It also calls for the redesign of port and technical assistance necessary dergraduate students and thus, their portant committees of the Society.” —Richard M. Todaro content for elementary and second- to undertake this pioneering task,” says prospective teachers.” 4 November 2001 NEWS LETTERS

More on Alternate Theories Why Is a Home Run Like a Higgs Boson? I have some additional information regarding “An alternate theory of perpetual motion” (Zero Gravity, APS News, October Or, What’s a Meta For? 2000), some of which was explained by Julian Griffiths in the Au- By Judy Jackson gust/September 2001 issue. The buttered cat theory did indeed originate with a magazine contest. He had no way of knowing Everyone agrees that scientists age has a certain down side, but ites, as well as some interesting new this. No versions of the emails I have seen have properly acknowl- need to do a better job of commu- the chemists surely have one of the examples. Predictably, a particle ac- edged the source of this ingenious theory. But I recalled reading nicating what they do and why it great tag lines of the ages. “Better celerator, or “atom smasher,” is the article in OMNI magazine in the July 1993 issue (Vol. 15, No. matters. It is a rare science policy living through quantum mechan- compared to “a giant racetrack,” 9, p. 96). The true originator of the theory is also the winner of speech that fails to exhort scien- ics” just doesn’t have the same ring or “the world’s largest microscope” the contest: John Frazee of Kingston, New York. tists to communicate more often to it. or a “time machine” reproducing Further curiosity led me to the November 1992 issue of OMNI, and effectively. “The scientists have Physics, by contrast, is a hard the Big Bang. The Higgs is “molas- which first announced the competition. It should not come as a done badly in terms of communi- sell, because from the point of view ses-like goo,” “cold molasses,” or surprise to most readers that the inspiration for the contest was cating with Congress and keeping of general comprehension, when “subatomic molasses.” Particle de- The Journal of Irreproducible Results. Some of the theories of the Congress and the public in- physics left the realm of the visible tectors look like “spaceships” or runners-up and honorable mentions are quite amusing. formed—in an explainable at the end of the 19th century, it “rockets on their sides,” or in one Jason C. Verley way—about what they’re doing entered the world of the abstract. memorable case, “a shopping Albuquerque, NM and why it is important,” said Con- For all practical purposes, to those mall.” Particle collisions produce a Editors’ Note: The other theories were amusing indeed. Our favorites: gressman Vern Ehlers (R-MI) outside its own rarefied precincts, “spray like shrapnel” yielding “a Clothes dryers produce a tunnel effect that throws socks into an recently. Ehlers is a member of the physics left reality behind and be- zoo of particles,” or a “smashed alternate universe. Scientists should use this effect to dispose of nuclear House Science Committee and one came an abstraction. watch” that physicists must reas- waste: just put chunks of it into socks and set the timer for 40 minutes. of two physicists in Congress. Of course, quantum mechanics semble from the scrambled springs (Thaddeus P. Rosen, Bakersfield, CA) Physicists above all others, say and relativity have as much to do and gears. If an infinite number of rednecks, riding in an infinite number of those both outside and within the with solid reality around us as does A recent Chicago Tribune story pickup trucks, fire an infinite number of shotgun rounds at an infinite field, are failing to get their mes- the structure of DNA or the fossil yielded this delectable home- number of highway signs, they will eventually produce all the world’s sage across. The clear implication of a dinosaur. And quarks are ev- grown image of how physicists great literary works in Braille. (John A. Banker, Show Low, AZ) is that the physical sciences would ery bit as real as viruses or stars. detect what comes out of a high- When subjected to extreme feminine heat and pressure, male hydro- not be experiencing their current Nevertheless, to the average by- energy particle collision: “It’s like carbons will often produce a diamond. (R.E. Swap, Fairview, UT) funding troubles if they would sim- stander they don’t seem as real. They standing on the corner of Waveland In the spirit of the original OMNI competition, we invite our readers ply improve at explaining what seem less like things you can touch Avenue and watching a Sammy Sosa to submit their own alternate scientific theories: Editor, APS News, One they’re up to. Many cite the Super- and see, and more like... math. And home run ball come sailing out of Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD, 20740, [email protected]. conducting Super Collider as a case as anyone who has tried will tell Wrigley Field.” The particles then in point. Never mind the gazillion- you, if science is a tough sell, math “fall back into their low-energy state No Plurals dollar cost overruns, this line of is impossible. and become invisible again, just as In the August/September issue, which only reached these dis- thinking goes, if physicists had only So physicists did what they had Sosa’s ball is quickly whisked away tant shores towards the end of September, one of your readers done a better job of talking up the to do when faced with the problem by a souvenir hunter.” points out that there is no such thing as a “degree Kelvin”. The SSC, we would be smashing pro- of communicating the abstract to a One story compared physicists unit named after Lord Kelvin is simply 1 kelvin = 1 K. He then tons under Waxahachie today. math-challenged world: they to wild geese, migrating to the high- goes on to claim that the correct way to specify the temperature Biology is easy to sell. Putting turned to metaphor. From the energy physics lab with the highest of the uniform background is 2.73 kelvins. But an international aside the benefits of medical re- “football field with the nuclear pea energy. Another evoked CERN sci- system of units obviously cannot be based on the grammar rules search, it seems obvious that it’s a at the 50-yard line and the elec- entists as hungry souls with their of one particular language. Therefore, one does not add s’es to good idea to study living things: trons in the stands” to the bowling noses pressed to the restaurant make plurals of SI units. The background temperature is thus 2.73 we’re alive, aren’t we? Cosmology ball top quark and Campbell’s window while Fermilab experi- kelvin = 2.73 K. and astrophysics have a similar ad- Cream of Primordial Soup, the menters sit down to dinner inside, Arne Reitan vantage: perhaps it’s in human search was on for the metaphors presumably to a feast of roast bo- Arendal, Norway genes, a relic of our nomadic that would bring physics back from son under glass. And “a basic hunter-gatherer days of gazing incomprehensible equations to un- prejudice of the universe for mat- heavenward for guidance while we derstandable—and fundable—life. ter over anti-matter” does as good wandered in the wild, but for some It’s a never-ending search. A re- a job as any of explaining that MEETING BRIEFS reason, everybody loves to look at cent spate of news stories peskily difficult concept, CP viola- the stars. The geologists have dino- prompted by the CERN-Fermilab tion. saurs, one of the branding success rivalry for discovery of the Higgs Feelings run high on the subject Texas Section, October 4-6, 2001 stories of all time. Chemistry’s im- Boson turned up many old favor- of just which metaphors work best The APS Texas section held its annual fall meeting in October for conveying the essence of fron- at Texas Christian University in Forth Worth, TX, jointly with the tier physics. For example, among corresponding sections of the American Association of Physics zero particle physicists, partisans of the Teachers and the Society of Physics Students. The program fea- gravity accelerator-as-giant-microscope tured several plenary speakers focusing on topics of general school froth at the mere mention of interest, including the Society’s own Robert Park, “speaking about accelerator-as-recreator-of-Big Bang, whatever he likes”; Ronald Walsworth of the Harvard- Secrets of Clichés Uncovered while Big Bang adherents smile pa- Smithsonian Astrophysics Observatory on the real story behind Science writers are nearing a breakthrough, perhaps a major break- tronizingly at the microscopists. At “stopping light”; Neal Lane, former science advisor to President through, in their age-old quest to unlock the secrets, even the ultimate times, it can feel like metaphor war- Clinton and now at Rice University; and 2000 Nobel Laureate secrets, of cliché-free prose, researchers reported yesterday. fare. Maybe it’s a physicist’s need to Jack Kilby of Texas Instruments. Friday evening’s banquet speaker Using cutting-edge, state-of-the-art, high-tech, and other dash-laden reduce the complex world to a set of was Nowell Donovan, a professor of geology at TCU, who de- methodologies, the science journalists sifted obscure clues to reach their mathematical laws that makes it hard scribed the unique meteorite collection housed at TCU and the tentative conclusions. “This is statistically significant,” one senior research to accept that both of these meta- plans for a Smithsonian Institution facility to study them. There said. “It is an important step forward,” said another. “This is science in phors work sometimes, neither were also invited sessions on applied physics and materials sci- action,” they agreed. works every time, and that occasion- ence and quantum thermodynamics, as well as special interest The research was reported in Science magazine, a prestigious journal, ally they even work together. sections on chemical physics, physics jobs in industry, and the and also in Nature, a leading British journal. Other researchers welcomed My 9th grade English teacher used use of WEB-CT in classes. In addition, the AAPT offered several the report, but were cautious. They called for more research. Science an example of metaphor that has workshops for teachers. writers covered all the (usual) bases, quoting John Pike of the Federation stuck with me for 40 years: “The truth of American Scientists, climatologist Stephen Schneider of Stanford Uni- is a hard deer to hunt.” Physics is all Ohio Section, October 19-20, 2001 versity, bioethicist Arthur Caplan, live astronomer Steve Maran, dead about the hard hunt for truth, and The APS Ohio Section held its annual fall meeting in October at astronomer Carl Sagan, outspoken physicist Robert Park, and neo-Luddite the search for words and images to Columbus State Community College in Columbus, OH. The meeting anti-technology gadfly Jeremy Rifkin. Stephen Jay Gould would have added convey the excitement of the chase, program featured a plenary session on novel techniques in physics class, but was unavailable for comment. and why it matters to us and to soci- pedagogy, summarized by an impressive list of speakers who have Clichés are a window into the past, even if they are red-shifted like the ety, is almost as hard. We’re never made significant contributions to the field of physics education. whistle on a passing train that changes pitch when it goes by, an analogy going to find the single perfect for- Wolfgang Christian of Davidson College described a new approach that itself is a window into the past. They offer a glimpse of the future, too. mula for explaining it. But with a to authoring interactive curricular material, while Mano Singham of They add to the growing evidence of the cataclysm that may have killed glorious mix of metaphors—stars, Case Western Reserve University described the challenges of trans- the dinosaurs. Debate is sure to continue. And while the latest results do home runs, microscopes, or shop- forming education research into classroom practice. Robert Lopez not offer a cure, they point the way to better understanding of the under- ping malls—we’ll all die trying. of the Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology spoke on applying sym- lying basic cellular causes to the ancient affliction. “We may never know Metaphorically, of course. bolic computing to methods of mathematical physics. And David all the answers, but this is an important piece of the puzzle,” said every- Judy Jackson is director of Fermilab’s Vernier of Vernier Software and Technology presented his favorite body. Office of Public Affairs. This article is physics demonstrations over the past 20 years. —Charles Petit, U.S. News and World Report reprinted from the Forum on Education Reprinted with permission. newsletter. NEWS November 2001 5 TSAI Program Winds Up Successful Seven-Year Run Early next year, the APS will close a charge to participants. terials, and school systems, are pro- a hands-on, inquiry- seven-year chapter in the Society’s on- “In the last ten years, a broad con- found.” centered science going efforts in education reform when sensus has developed in the U.S. as to The TSAI program was formed to program,” says the Teacher-Scientist Alliance Institutes what science education should be. In get scientists and other technical pro- Schultz. “By all indica- (TSAI) program concludes. TSAI is a meeting the goals of the new consen- fessionals involved in support of tions, these workshops comprehensive initiative designed to sus, the APS believes that the hands-on, inquiry-centered science have been very effec- promote the systemic reform of K-8 involvement of scientists is of great education programs in their local tive in building both science education from the traditional, value, even essential,” says Ted Schultz, school districts. It was established in community and ad- lecture-oriented methodology to a assistant director for education and di- 1995 by Ramon Lopez, then director ministrative hands-on, inquiry-centered approach. rector of the TSAI program. “For of the APS Education and Outreach understanding, enthu- The program has provided institutes, example, the differences between read- Department, initially with funds from siasm, and support.” workshops, and other support for edu- ing about science and doing science, the APS/AAPT Campaign for Physics A 2000 report by the cators and scientists throughout the and the increase in demands the latter and later with an NSF grant to support Institute for Learning country, all of which have been free of makes on teachers, instructional ma- its continued efforts. Initially aimed at Innovation, based in An- the reform of elementary school sci- napolis, MD, evaluated ence education, the program was the impact of the TSAI Carrying the Torch of Education Reform eventually expanded to include middle program to date, and schools. found that the partici- Ted Schultz, who heads the APS TSAI program, first developed Since its inception, a principal as- pants surveyed were an interest in science education in the 1960s, early in his 32-year pect of the program has been the overwhelmingly compli- Edward Lee/APS tenure as a theoretical physicist at IBM’s Watson Research Center in annual Lead Scientist Institutes mentary and Yorktown Heights, NY. For two years, along with seven other IBM Ted Schultz, right, makes a point to Wolf Berger at one of (LSIs), five-day events held in Wash- appreciative of the the TSA Institutes. colleagues, he taught truly abstract mathematics to third, fourth and ington, DC, to prepare participants program’s impact in fifth graders through a program originating in Berkeley, California. In to support the science education their districts, believing they had made “there are serious challenges in get- the 1990s, now working in a largely administrative position at IBM, programs in their areas. These insti- substantial progress in their reform ef- ting scientists and educators to Schultz decided he wanted to do something more “socially rel- tutes have provided an intensive forts. While recognizing that much bridge the culture gap between them evant,” and immediately thought of science education. “At first, I introduction to the basic issues of work remained to be done, the report and work closely together,” and the thought it would have to be mathematics again, because math- science education reform. Applicants noted, “The scope of change advocated results have been varied (see http:// ematical worlds or systems can be constructed in which kids can are usually accepted in teams of two by TSAI is broad and systemic. Real sus- www.aps.org/units/fed/sum- meaningfully learn to discover their properties. In science, the or three from school districts already tainable change takes time and over mer2001/schultz.html). Often world is already there and its complicated properties seemed too involved in systemic reform, teams the last four years, TSAI has planted scientists are interested in becom- difficult for kids to discover. Then I found out there was an entire comprising scientists, engineers or important and thriving science educa- ing involved, but lack support from movement in science education to get kids to learn about the real other technical professionals with a tion reform seeds,” despite having to the school districts, which do not al- world by actually investigating it, by doing experiments, asking ques- demonstrated commitment to im- operate in a turbulent and ever-chang- ways know how to integrate the tions and so on,” he said, “and I was sold.” proving science education, as well ing education environment. participation of scientists. Ideally, the Schultz retired from IBM and found a position at the National as one or sometimes two educators However, the report noted that goal is to achieve a large number of Science Resources Center (NSRC), a joint enterprise of the to help integrate scientists into re- some teams have struggled with ways scientists who are moderately in- Smithsonian Institute and the National Academy of Sciences based form efforts. to make the most effective use of sci- volved. “Even if their contribution is in Washington, DC, where he met Ramon Lopez. When Schultz’s In addition, TSAI has conducted entists, and expressed concern that only two or three days per year, sci- NSRC project ended, he moved half time to the National Research Regional Leadership Institutes in without on-going support, fledgling entists and engineers can add some Council, researching the ways scientists have become involved in New England, the Southeast, San initiatives may die out in many districts. unique elements, such as their by- science education, and half time to the APS to assist Lopez in the Diego, and Texas, as well as a three- Nevertheless, TSAI’s additional goal, of now instinctive understanding of TSAI program. Later, Schultz joined the APS full-time and three years day version in Atlanta in 1999, as spawning second-generation institutes, inquiry and their knowledge of sci- later, when Lopez left the APS, he took over the TSAI directorship. part of the APS Centennial celebra- has been met in North Carolina. There, entific content in their field, to any Schultz had hoped to raise new funds to continue the TSAI pro- tion. At the request of individual state science-education leaders who reform effort, particularly to the pro- gram once the NSF grant funds ran out, but health problems have school districts, TSAI-trained scien- received their first training at TSAI’s fessional development of teachers,” intervened. One last leadership institute is planned for January 2002. tists have also helped conduct Southeast Leadership Institute in says Schultz. Nevertheless, he believes, “I may be quixotic, but I’m hoping to introduce this institute to a one-day workshops to recruit other Clemson, SC, or at a subsequent Lead the greatest value of the TSAI program number of other scientific societies, and to demonstrate its successes, scientists to the education reform ef- Scientist Institute in Washington, have ultimately lies in the relatively small so that the baton will be picked up and a program to involve scientists forts underway, or half-day now conducted the first three of a se- number of scientists who have become in science education will continue and improve.” workshops for leaders in the local ries of annual institutes intended to extremely involved and committed to Schultz and Lopez co-authored an article entitled “Two Revolu- education and business communi- reach all school districts in the state. systemic reform of science education, tions in K-8 Science Education” in the September, 2001 issue of ties and parents. “The aim is to try to Schultz, who has written an ar- scientists who become real leaders of Physics Today. convey the value and excitement of ticle on this subject, admits that their local programs.

Election, from page 1

the non-profit Contemporary Alamos National Laboratory in Newly elected International globalization and the e-print ering the high qualifications of the Physics Education Project which 2000, having joined the scientific Councillor Maurice Rice is a na- revolution,” he said. field of candidates. “I look forward produces wall-charts and other staff in 1986. Her research has tive of Ireland and obtained a PhD Houle received her PhD from to working with the other board materials for high school and col- been in nuclear physics, studying from the University of Cambridge the California Institute of Tech- members, many (of whom) are lege physics teachers. She also nuclear structure with medium en- in 1964. During his fifteen years nology (1979) in Chemistry. In friends,” he said. “I also encourage manages SLAC’s education and ergy probes and symmetry at Bell Labs he served terms as 1980, after an appointment as an any member of the APS to contact outreach programs. This experi- violation using low energy neu- head of the Theoretical Physics IBM postdoctoral fellow at the Uni- me about their concerns, com- ence is reflected in her candidate’s trons. She has most recently been and Surface Physics Depart- versity of California at Berkeley, she plaints, and suggestions for statement. “We all know the neces- involved in development of novel ments, assuming his present joined the IBM Research Laboratory, improvements in the APS.” Mahan sity of building on one another’s sources of ultra-cold neutrons. In position as professor of physics now the IBM Almaden Research received his PhD in physics from research, but too often go it alone her candidate’s statement, at the ETH Zurich in 1981. Rice’s Center. Her research is in the area of University of California, Berkeley, when it comes to changes within Seestrom set forth her belief that a research interests extend over physics and chemistry of thermal and in 1964, and 1984 held a joint ap- our departments or outreach to K- primary role for the APS is to be an many fields in theoretical con- radiation-induction chemical modi- pointment as a professor in the 12 education,” she wrote. “The advocate for the importance of ba- densed matter physics. In recent fication of surfaces and thin films. Department of Physics and As- society’s [education] activities help sic science to our society, with a years he has concentrated mainly “The new world of multidisciplinary, tronomy at the University of promulgate successful innovations corresponding need for diversity on the theory of strongly corre- team-oriented research at the Tennessee, and as a Distinguished and prevent replication of fail- in the society’s leadership. “The lated electrons and its application boundaries of traditional disciplines Scientist at Oak Ridge National ures.” Quinn also cited the events of September 11th have to the microscopic theory of the is tremendously exciting,” Houle Laboratory. He has recently be- continuing evolution towards elec- created a great sense of fear and high temperature superconduc- wrote in her candidate’s statement, come Distingished Professor of tronic publishing and outreach to uncertainty around the world, and tors. In his candidate’s statement, adding, “It is vital that the APS Physics at Penn State. “Physics re- Congress and the general public as it will be important for the APS to Rice spoke of the continuing glo- promote and facilitate multi-in- search is changing rapidly and major challenges facing the APS in demonstrate the relevance of phys- balization of the APS, most vestigator, physics-related diversifying, [with] many new fields her statement. “We must plan ics to challenging national notably in the number of foreign collaborations throughout all its of research starting, while old fields wisely for the future, developing problems,” said Seestrom. “It will manuscripts (70% of the total) sub- programs.” She said she is “most are becoming more interdiscipli- the Society’s activities in response be important that the leadership mitted to its journals each year, and pleased” to be elected to Coun- nary,” Mahan wrote in his candidate’s to the needs of physics and of of the society reflect the breadth praised the Society’s decision to cil. “I have been an APS member statement, emphasizing his own physicists, and at the same time of contributions that physicists are have international representation for many years and am very ex- broad experience in academia, in- maintaining our fiscal health,” she making, and the nominating com- on its Council. “I will try to foster cited to have the opportunity to dustry and government said. mittee will be key in maintaining international collaborations to face serve the Society.” laboratories. “It is the job of the Seestrom was named Director the great breadth and depth the common challenges, in particular Mahan admits to some surprise APS Council to adapt the organi- of the Physics Division at Los APS is known for.” the consequences of increasing at the news of his election, consid- zation to these new directions.” 6 November 2001 NEWS

Happy Birthday Enrico!

The hundredth anniversary of Enrico Fermi’s birth took place on September 29. The event was commemorated at Fermilab on the 28th, and at the University of Chicago (where Fermi taught and where he developed the first nuclear reactor) on the 29th. Fermi was President of the APS in 1953, the year before his death. Shown here cutting the birthday cake after Fermilab’s centennial symposium are Mildred Dresselhaus of MIT (APS President in 1984) and Michael Witherell, Director of Fermilab. As a student, Dresselhaus took a course on quantum mechanics from Enrico Fermi at the University of Chicago. At right is a picture of Fermi that appears on a recently issued stamp. It contains an amusingly heterodox formula for the fine-structure constant in the upper Courtesy of Fermilab left. University of Chicago, Courtesy AIP Emilio Segré Visual Archives

Survey, from page 1 Percentages of Students with Visa Problems articles have appeared in the forget that the taxes I pay to the Chronicle of Higher Education and in government pay their salaries.” 50 Chinese 46% (243) the New York Times, and an op-ed At Pittsburg State University, a Citizens piece appeared recently in the Wall small school in rural southeastern (112/243) 40 Other Street Journal. Kansas, physics department chair (350) Foreign Nationals According to the Times report, Chuck Blatchley said difficulties there is no question in China but getting Chinese and other interna- 30 26% that the US Government has tional students, combined with a (63/243) 20% cracked down arbitrarily and un- drop-off in enrollment by Ameri- 20 fairly on Chinese students. It cited can students, are jeopardizing the (49/243) 15% numerous multi-part series and very existence of his department’s (51/350) angry editorials that have appeared small master’s program. 10 7% 8% “We were down to one MS stu- in Chinese newspapers, while (24/350) (27/350) internet chat rooms have vented dent two years ago. This year, we 0 against the handful of overworked are back up to five, but none of Problems Problems Visa Problems American visa officers in one of five several applicants from China Resolved In Time Not Resolved Overall consular offices around China who made it into the country,” Blatchley issue thousands of visas each year. said. “In our program review last (The survey did not take into account individuals who were accepted into more than one program and in opting In the US, colleges and universi- year, we were asked to justify keep- for one program, necessarily did not “arrive on time” for the other program, even though they may not have ties have complained to the State ing the MS program running if we experienced any visa difficulties.) Department, while a number of did not have enough applicants to physics departments have con- fill our three existing graduate as- were unsuccessful and could not sular posts rose from 12,370 in fis- otherwise,” Shakin said. tacted the APS detailing their sistantship positions.” start their programs. So overall, 51 cal 1998 to 19,018 in fiscal 2001 Historically, the overwhelming problems in getting student and visi- Blatchley’s program was put on other foreign nationals, or 15 per- (less the last 18 days of Septem- majority of Chinese citizens who tor exchange visas. a probationary status for three cent, had some type of student visa ber), while the number of “J1” have come to the US on student “Until about 1998, we never had years even as stipends were in- difficulty. Compared to other for- exchange visitor visas issued in and other visas have ended up a case where an F1 visa was de- creased somewhat to see if the eign nationals, China rose from 5,737 to 6,079 in staying in the country permanently. nied. In fact, it never occurred to larger amount of money attracts • A Chinese citizen was almost the same period. The State Department cites this me that a student with an I-20 (a more students. If not, he said, the four times as likely to have ex- Lamora said that all of these fig- fact as evidence that it really does document required of international program will likely be disbanded. perienced a student visa ures outweigh the anecdotal not make it tough for visa appli- students before a student visa can But do cases like these genuinely problem he or she ultimately evidence. “The State Department cants. Others like Shakin see this be issued) would not get an F1 visa,” reflect a larger problem, or are they overcame in time for the start does recognize and understand fact as a good thing for the coun- said Kurt Haller, the head of the relatively isolated? The APS survey of the 2001-2002 academic visa applicants’ frustration when try. physics graduate program at the of physics graduate programs year. they fail to obtain student visas. “Chinese citizens work in the University of Connecticut, Storrs. around the country had decidedly • A Chinese citizen was two and a However, the anecdotal ‘evidence’ industries like finance and infor- “One person was denied in 1999 mixed results. half times as likely to have expe- that somehow the process has be- mation technology and are a major and couldn’t come and one was Of the 90 replies received – rep- rienced a student visa problem come more difficult of late is simply asset to the country,” he said. denied in 2000, but subsequently resenting just over one-third of all he or she could not overcome not supported by the facts. There During an August meeting at the accepted. This year, we accepted the physics graduate programs in in time for the start of the 2001- have been absolutely no changes State Department between a group seven Chinese students, but only the United States – 49 said they had 2002 academic year. in the procedures or policies our of university admissions personnel, two received an F1 (and) five were encountered sudden and unusual • Overall, a Chinese citizen was consular officers abroad use to ac- physics researchers, and APS staff denied. That’s a big jump.” problems getting student visas for about three times as likely to cess Chinese citizens’ applications members on one side and State At the University of Utah in Salt Chinese or other foreign nationals have experienced some student for student visas,” Lamora said. Department and Immigration and Lake City, Heidi Frank deals with entering their program in the 2001- visa problem for the current He also pointed out that the Naturalization Service officials on international student issues for the 2002 academic year, while 41 said academic year. 1952 law governing such visa is- the other, there was discussion of physics department. She expressed they had not. This 46 percent rate of refusal sues requires consular officers to ways the student visa process a great deal of frustration because The 49 programs that encoun- for Chinese student visa applicants assume that the applicant intends could be smoothed out. One pos- all ten of the Chinese students ac- tered problems accepted 243 seeking to enter US physics gradu- to migrate to the US. The famous sible solution was the creation of cepted into the department were Chinese citizens and 350 other for- ate programs matches very closely Section 214-b of the Immigration yet another visa category. rejected on their first attempt. eign nationals. Of these 243 with the State Department’s own re- and Nationality Act requires visa However, the events of Septem- Frank recounted how she ulti- Chinese, 63, or 26, percent experi- ported refusal rate for all Chinese applicants to demonstrate an “in- ber 11, 2001 have ended the effort mately was able to get seven of the enced at least one student visa student visa applicants for fiscal tent to return” to their native to create a new visa category, ac- ten into the program through the refusal but ultimately secured their 1998 and fiscal 1999. That rate country, and if the consular officer cording to Irving Lerch, the APS intervention of Utah Sen. Orrin visas and arrived on time in the US “hovered between 45 and 47 per- is not satisfied, the officer is re- Director of International Affairs. Hatch, who sent letters on behalf into their programs, while another cent” before dropping to 33 quired to reject the applicant. “The ‘new visa’ issue is dead – for of the students to the US embassy 49, or 20, percent were unable to percent in fiscal 2000, a fact that Carl Shakin, who oversees the the moment,” he said. “There are in Beijing. The other three have had get their student visas on time and “hardly seems to indicate tougher physics graduate program at people in the [consular affairs] bu- to defer their admissions to at least hence were unable to start their standards than in the past,” accord- Brooklyn College, one of the five reau who are sympathetic, but now Spring 2002, with no guarantee that programs. So overall, 112 Chinese ing to Chris Lamora, spokesman for main campuses comprising the City is not the time to press the case.” they will get their visas then. citizens, or 46 percent, had some the State Department’s Bureau of University of New York system, Lerch said any initiative for a “I faxed petition letters to the type of student visa difficulty. Consular Affairs. criticized this aspect of the law as visa category would have to come embassy and consulates on behalf By contrast, of the 350 other Lamora also cites the large and essentially arbitrary and subjective. from Congress and have the okay of the students. The embassy faxed foreign nationals, 24, or 7 percent, steady gains in the numbers of F “They can use this argument of the immigration service. “If I back a very rude letter informing experienced at least one student and J visas issued to Chinese citi- that the (applicant) really seems to were to raise this issue again, it me that I had no right to send any- visa refusal, but were ultimately suc- zens during this time. The number have intentions of emigrating to the would be directly with the Immi- thing to the embassy,” Frank said. cessful in time for the start of their of student “F1” visas issued in States. They can always use that gration and Naturalization Service “Apparently, the embassy workers programs, while 27 or 8 percent China at one of five American con- argument. No one can really prove staff,” he said. NEWS November 2001 7 ANNOUNCEMENTS

Tell a friend, tell a colleague. New APS members can “Copenhagen” APS Membership join for ½ off the Regular dues amount now through Hits the Road February 28, 2002. (Certain restrictions apply; see ½ OFF! http://www.aps.org/memb/joinaps.html for details.) FELLOWSHIP PROGRAMS Science Meets the Arts in Exploratorium’s Holiday Events APS/AIP CONGRESSIONAL SCIENCE FELLOWSHIP APS members in the Bay Area this holiday season are invited to participate The American Physical Society and the American Institute of Physics are in a special series of events at the Exploratorium Science Center in San Fran- Photo by Gerald Cyrus accepting applications for their 2002-2003 Congressional Science cisco. Now in its third season, the Second Wednesdays Arts series combines Hans Bethe (right) picks up some acting tips Fellowship programs. Fellows serve one year on the staff of a Member of the spirit of inquiry, interactivity, and experimentation that characterizes the from Copenhagen director Michael Blakemore. Congress or congressional committee, learning the legislative process Exploratorium, with the innovative intensity of the Bay Area arts community. “Copenhagen,” the Tony-Award- while lending scientific expertise to public policy issues. Application Curated around themes and investigations from self-propulsion to biotechnol- deadline is January 15, 2002. For more information, visit: ogy, the series includes artists and curators from the Bay Area and beyond, in winning play by Michael Frayn http://www.aip.org/pubinfo or http://www.aps.org/public_affairs/ disciplines ranging from poetry and film, to installation art and music. All events that reenacts the 1941 visit of fellow/index.shtml are free with admission to the Exploratorium. Werner Heisenberg to Niels Bohr, A sampling of upcoming events: is going on a nationwide tour with AIP STATE DEPARTMENT SCIENCE FELLOWSHIP • The Mathematics of Pool. Demonstrating probability with the help two separate companies: one The American Institute of Physics (AIP) is now accepting appli- of a billiards table. traveling to large cities, and the cations for the AIP State Department Science Fellowship. This • The Physics of Toys. Find out how your favorite toys work and make other focusing on performances fellowship program represents an opportunity for scientists your own in this fascinating workshop. in smaller cities and college towns. to make a unique and substantial contribution to the • Holiday Iron Science Teacher Competition. A live event in which The first performances kick off in nation’s foreign policy. Each year, AIP sponsors one science teachers have ten minutes to concoct a science activity Salt Lake City in mid-November fellow to work in a bureau or office of the US State from a “secret” ingredient that can be used in the classroom. before moving to Los Angeles Department, becoming actively and directly in- • Mathematica: A World of Numbers and Beyond. First created in through the end of the year. For volved in the foreign policy process by providing 1961 by the late Charles and Ray Eames, this classic exhibition is more information about perfor- much-needed scientific and technical expertise. the first major posthumous retrospective of their lifework. mance dates and location, see Application deadline is November 1, 2001. • Numerous film programs showcasing some of the best science- http://web.gc.cuny.edu/ashp/nml/ For more information, visit: http://www.aip.org/ related animated shorts and features of today. artsci, and click on the mgr/sdf.html For more information on these and other upcoming events, go to “Copenhagen Symposium” link. http://www.exploratorium.edu.

Physicists Honored at Fall Unit Meetings

Nine APS members were honored magnetic fields, ion temperature gradient manager in the company’s Experimen- associated with the formation of FLUID DYNAMICS PRIZE with prizes and awards at the fall meet- instabilities, quasi-linear theory, neoclassi- tal Science Division, overseeing fusion edge and internal transport Howard Brenner ings of three separate units. The 2001 cal transport, and weak turbulence theory.” research work on the D-III-D tokamak. barriersssion effects. Massachusetts Institute of Technology Arthur Schawlow Prize was presented Sagdeev is a Distinguished Univer- His primary research focus is on en- Synakowski received his PhD in Citation: “For his outstanding and sus- at the Interdisciplinary Laser Science sity Professor of the University of ergy and angular momentum transport physics from the University of Texas at tained research in physico-chemical Conference in Long Beach, CA, Octo- Maryland, College Park, and director in tokamak plasma, and he has helped Austin in 1988, having performed spec- hydrodynamics, the quality of his mono- ber 14-18. The ILS is the annual of the East West Space Science Center develop numerous diagnostics, includ- troscopic studies of plasma impurity graphs and textbooks, and his long-standing meeting of the APS Division of Laser in the Department of Physics. After ing the highly successful charge transport on the TEXT tokamak. Since service to the fluid mechanics community.” Science. At the APS Division of Plasma graduating from Moscow State Univer- exchange recombination spectroscopy then he has been a member of the re- Born and raised in New York City, Physics meeting, also held in Long sity in the 1950s, he became a member technique. search staff at Princeton Plasma Physics Brenner received his PhD in chemical Beach, October 29-November 2, physi- of the controlled fusion team at Since obtaining his PhD from the Laboratory, where he is currently engineering from New York University cists were honored with the Maxwell Kurchtov Institute of Atomic Energy University of Wisconsin, Madison in deputy program director of the Na- in 1957. His 46-year career as a chemi- Prize, the Excellence in Plasma Physics in Moscow, where he was a driving 1979, Groebner has been employed tional Spherical Torus Experiment. His cal engineering faculty member has Award, and the award for Outstand- force behind the development in our by General Atomics in San Diego, CA. most recent research efforts include a included stints at NYU, Carnegie- ing Doctoral Thesis in Plasma Physics. understanding of nonlinear phenom- A major focus of his research has been focus on bifurcating plasma systems Mellon University, the University of Finally, the Fluid Dynamics Prize and ena in rarefied plasmas. In 1961 he the development of diagnostic tech- and studies of the effects of sheared Rochester, and MIT, where he is cur- Otto Laporte Award will be presented founded the Plasma Theory Lab at the niques, using charge exchange plasma flows on transport and trans- rently W.H. Dow Professor. The later this month at the meeting of the Budker Institute of Nuclear Physics in recombination spectroscopy, for the port barried dynamics. He has recently co-author of three books on fluid dy- APS Division of Fluid Dynamics, No- Novosibirsk, expanding the original measurement of ion temperature and extended this work to include joint re- namics, his lifelong research interests vember 18-20, in San Diego, CA. scope of his work on nonlinear plas- velocity profiles. He implemented such search on the DIII-D tokamak at focus on modeling particulate physico- ARTHUR SCHAWLOW PRIZE mas. And from 1973-1988 he was a system to study the boundary plasma General Atomics. chemical transport processes. Current David J. Wineland director of Moscow’s Institute for Space on the DIII-D tokamak and discovered OUTSTANDING DOCTORAL research efforts involve modeling National Institute of Standards Research. He was also politically in- that the edge radial electric field be- THESIS IN PLASMA PHYSICS chromatographic bio-particle sepa- & Technology volved as an advisor to Mikhail came more negative when the plasma AWARD ration processes in microfluidic Citation: “For an extraordinary range Gorbachev on arms control and space, made a transition to an improved con- Kevin James Bowers devices and, more fundamentally, of pioneering studies combining trapped ions and in 1989 was elected to the USSR finement mode, called the H mode. He University of California, Berkeley quantifying the molecular and con- and lasers.” Congress of Peoples Deputies, together has helped foster H-mode research as Citation: “For comprehensive and vective transport of volume. Wineland received his PhD in 1970 with fellow physicist Andrei Sakharov. leader of H-mode studies on DIII-D. insightful theories and simulations of elec- OTTO LAPORTE AWARD from Harvard University and spent five EXCELLENCE IN PLASMA Doyle received his BE and tron series resonant (ESR) diodes and John Kim years as a postdoctoral fellow at the PHYSICS AWARD MEngSc degrees in Electrical Engi- ESR surface-wave plasmas, which University of California, Los Angeles University of Washington before join- Keith H. Burrell neering from the National showed how distributed slow-wave ex- Citation: “For his pioneering work in ing what was then known as the General Atomics University of Ireland, University citation might produce large area plasma the development of direct numerical simu- National Bureau of Standards as a staff Richard Joseph Groebner College Cork in 1980 and 1982. discharges for processing and other ap- lation as a tool in turbulence research, scientist. His research interests are fo- General Atomics From 1980 to 1985 he was a re- plications.” and for his important contributions to cused on the laser cooling and Edward Doyle search associate at the UKAEA Bowers graduated with highest the understanding of the physics and con- spectroscopy of trapped ions with ap- University of California, Culham Laboratory, where he de- distinction from Purdue University trol of turbulent boundary layers.” plications to atomic clocks, cold Los Angeles veloped a far-forward scattering in 1997 with a BS in electrical engi- Kim received his BS degree from plasmas, and fundamental tests; quan- Edmund J. Synakowski system for the TOSCA tokamak. In neering. He received his PhD in Seoul National University in Korea and tum state engineering with applications Princeton Plasma Physics 1985 he joined the research staff electrical engineering from the earned an MS from Brown University to quantum information processing Laboratory at UCLA, where he is currently a University of California, Berkeley, before completing his PhD in mechani- and quantum-limited measurement. Citation: “For experiments that show senior researcher in the Electrical earlier this year, with thesis work cal engineering at Stanford University He has won numerous prizes and that sheared ExB flows can suppress turbu- Engineering Dept. and Institute for on high frequency plasma surface in 1978. Before joining UCLA, he con- awards for his research over the years, lence and transport in tokamak plasmas, Plasma Science and Technology. At waves. Since then he has joined ducted research in the areas of including the 1990 APS Davisson- and that such flows can spontaneously arise UCLA he has pursued applications Agere Systems (formerly the Lu- transition and turbulence physics at Germer Prize. at the edge and in the core of tokamak of advanced Far Infra-Red and mm- cent Bell Labs Microelectronics NASA’s Ames Research Center, serving JAMES CLERK MAXWELL plasmas.” wave diagnostic systems to improve Corporation), where he has been as chief of the Turbulence and Transi- PRIZE Burrell received his PhD from fundamental understanding of investigating mesoscopic and tion Physics Branch. He is currently Roald Sagdeev CalTech in 1974 and has spent the last plasma turbulence and transport. nanoscopic photonic devices and active in investigating control strate- University of Maryland 27 years at General Atomics working In 1989 he joined the collabora- manufacturing. His research inter- gies for turbulent boundary layers, Citation: “For an unmatched set of con- on a variety of experimental and theo- tive research team at the DIII-D ests include electromagnetics, using systems theoretic approaches. tributions to modern plasma theory retical topics in controlled fusion National Fusion Facility, San Di- plasmas, quantum electronics, and Since 1998 he has been the editor of including, collisionless shocks, stochastic research. He is currently program ego to study turbulence changes scientific computing. the journal Physics of Fluids. 8 November 2001 NEWS THE BACK PAGE Unity of Physics in Action: Voices from Around the World Editor’s Note: The entire country was deeply affected by the tragic events of September 11, 2001, which claimed the lives of more than 6,000+ people. In the midst of such horror and loss, we were particularly gratified by the outpouring of support and consolation received from our friends and colleagues in other countries. The sampling below represents but a small fraction of the encouraging notes received by various APS officers and staff in the aftermath of the attacks. We reprint them here as a testament to the universality of physics, whose community knows no national borders.

The Executive Board of The American Physical Society expresses its profound sorrow at the loss of so many innocent victims of terror- ism on September 11, and offers deep sympathy and condolences to their family and friends. We mourn as well the deaths of members of our own physics community. We grieve with our members and staff who have lost loved ones, friends and colleagues. APS Executive Board Motion Passed September 22, 2001 ©2001 Paul Dlugokencky (aDailyCartoon.com) for APS News

The Deutsche Physikalische With deepest shock we have It is with deepest sorrow that MEMO Gesellschaft unreservedly con- seen the totally senseless attack we learned of the tragedy which TO: Publications Staff of the American Physical Society, Ridge, NY demns the recent appalling on humans and institutions in happened in the United States. FROM: Martin Blume, APS Editor in Chief terrorist attacks in the United the United States. Helpless as I wish to extend to you my sin- DATE: September 12, 2001 States. They are attacks upon anyone in this situation, we cere sympathy, knowing the Yesterday’s terrible events will be in the forefront of our minds for a long our whole civilization. would like at least to share with sorrow you must feel. time to come. I believe that as we learn more about the toll of the tragedy, none The Deutsche Physikalische all of you our deep sympathy. Andrzej Slebarski of us in our office will be spared some brush with death. Some of us will have Gesellschaft assures The Ameri- Scientific collaborations have University of Silesia, Poland lost close loved ones, and most, if not all, will know of friends, neighbors, or can Physical Society and the played for many years an im- relatives who have perished or who are badly injured. Our thoughts, hopes, whole American people of its portant role in fostering the wishes and prayers are with the survivors and with the families and friends of complete solidarity with them understanding of humans We are shocked and sad- those who have died. Inevitably, we will be thinking as well of punishment for at this difficult time. across borders. I hope this spirit dened by the tragedy because those responsible. It is important that we not hold entire groups of people In memory of the victims will finally win over fanaticism. of the terrorist attacks in the accountable. The world of physics, of which we are an important part, is very and with my deepest sympathy Albrecht Wagner United States. All of us from the international in scope, and we have many friends and colleagues in all corners for their families, I remain in Director, DESY Central American and Carib- of the world. Here in our own office we have many coworkers who have great sadness, German High Energy Physics bean Physical Society (SOCEAF) come from faraway places, who are as horrified by what has happened as the Dirk Basting Laboratory want to express our condo- rest of us. Let us keep that in mind when the pursuit of the guilty becomes President, DPG lences to the families and our paramount thought. One strong contribution that we can make friends of the victims in these here to defeat the purposes of the terrorists is for us to carry out our I and my colleagues sympa- tragic events. Please let us know tasks as best we can. In that way, we will overcome their aim of complete We are sorry [about] what thize with you in your sorrow if we can be of any help in this disruption of our society. This will not be easy, but it should be our goal. has happened to your country. on the terrorism in New York terrible situation. Please have our heartfelt sym- and Washington. We were Leopoldo Esquivel pathies. sorry to hear of the death of President, SOCEAF The scientists of the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research at Dubna feel Santanu Datta the people in the United States. deeply indignant at the unprecedented terrorist acts committed on Septem- Secretary, Indian Physics V.M. Matveev and V.V. ber 11 in New York, Washington, and Pittsburgh. In these tragic days we join Association, Calcutta Matveev I send my sincere condo- you in your grief over the immense loss of human life and express our sincere Chapter State Research Institute of lences to everybody in America condolences to the families of the victims. We wish you, dear colleagues, Physical Problems on the terrorist attack. and the entire US people all the courage to overcome the aftermaths of Zelenograd, Moscow, Russia Mikhail Kisselev this tragedy. Please accept our profound sympathy. On behalf of the staff All of us in the Indian University of Wuerzburg, members of JINR and from all your true friends at Dubna... Physics Association are most Germany Vladimir Kadyshevsky, Alexey Sissakian, Tsvetan Vylov distressed with the human trag- We hope very much that you Russia edies [that] have struck New are safe and mourn with all the York and Washington. Our unimaginably large losses. To- I would like to express my hearts go out in sympathy with day we Germans are all condolences to the American May I, on behalf of the Institute of Physics, express deep sympathy to the innocent victims of these Americans. people at this dark and tragic all American physicists for the tragic events of last week. These cataclys- acts of madness. We stand by Eberhard Hilf moment for the attack on the mic occurrences still seem incredible and the trivializing of human life is you in this hour of grief. University of Oldenburg, free and democratic world. This so alien to us in the Western world. Here in London, we have suffered for C.L. Bhat Germany is not only an attack on the the past 30 years from terrorist activities, but none has been on the scale Secretary, Indian Physics United States, but an attack on of those on New York and Washington. We hear today of 250 Britons Association the civilized world. We stand who were victims in the World Trade Center, making this one of the Please accept my condo- close by you. Let me hope that worst ever peacetime tragedies for our country. It is also probable that lences for the tragedy that has you never forgive these mon- amongst the dead there will be physicists, who in increasing numbers in We are deeply in consterna- hit your great country. strous criminal suicide recent years, with their mathematical and model building skills, have tion for the tragic and violent Taieb Gasmi attackers. added an extra dimension to the financial world. I am confident, how- events in the United States. We Universidad Complutense de Vitaly Gasparov ever, that the American people with their resolve and determination will hope that everybody and every- Madrid, Spain Institute of Solid State continue to progress in spite of the mental and physical scars which last thing by the American Physical Physics week’s acts of terrorism have inflicted upon your country. Society is okay. Russian Academy of Sciences Alun Jones Gerardo Contreras Puente I was shocked to learn of the Institute of Physics, England President, Sociedad recent terrorist attacks in the Mexicana de Fisica United States. I share the con- After the dramatic events of cern with the people of the last week, I would like to ex- In shock and horror I followed the news of last Tuesday’s terror attack, United States and express my press to all US people our together with many of our faculty and staff, as unspeakable events unfolded On behalf of the Cuban heartfelt condolences to the deepest thoughts in these ter- in lower Manhattan, Washington, DC, and Pennsylvania. We share in the Physical Society, we would like dependents of the victims. I am rible moments. We French suffering, the sadness, anger, and confusion of all Americans. Our thoughts to transmit to you our sad feel- very sure such attacks by cow- people have a very special debt and prayers are especially with those of you who may now be confronted ings and human solidarity ards will not stop the United to you that began in 1945 when with the loss of a loved one. I pray that the burden of grief will not break your because of the tragic facts that States from its targeted missions you came as liberators. spirit, and I trust that in a nation standing together hearts will be healed, made occurred in New York City and against global terrorism. Be sure that we are with all strong enough to withstand, free to pursue dreams again. But any words Washington. K. Shadananan Nair of you. seem lost like chaff in the wind in the face of a tragedy this vast. There is little Victor Fajer Cochin University of Science Thierry Jolicoeur else I can say except that my heart goes out to you. President, Sociedad Cubana & Technology Ecole Normale Supérieure, Juergen T. Stockburger de Fisica Kerala, India France Universitaet Stuttgart, Germany

APS News welcomes and encourages letters and submissions from its members responding to these and other issues. Responses may be sent to: [email protected].